AVStoDVD Support Thread

[hank315]

HCenc can only do 3:2 pulldown so all other pulldown ratios have to be done by DGPulldown.

[manono]

...even though I had HCenc do the encoding, "pulldown" was not turned on, and the extra pulldown step ran instead.

The pulldown HCEnc applies is the standard 3:2 pulldown, where you want the PAL to NTSC 3:2:3:2:2 pulldown. So, my educated guess is it has to be applied separately and outside of HCEnc.

Edit: hank315 beat me to it.

[davexnet]

Hey guys,
MrC implemented PAL to NTSC slowdown as an option for progressive source -
25 fps > 23.976 using avisynth, so pure 23.976 is fed to HCenc .

Surely, as far as HCenc is concerned, it should be the same as if the file was originally 23.976,
and do the standard 23.976 > 29.97 pulldown ? (as long as PULLDOWN is in the HCenc ini file)

[_MrC_]

Dave, you are correct, no need to have an additional DGPulldown step in that case. Will update the HCenc ini file.

Thanks for the suggestion



Bye

[Simmo1985]

Hi guys,

Really enjoying AVStoDVD. Very happy with the quality and the ability to hardcode subtitles!

Just a few things:

1. When encoding the video footage, my CPU usage seems to sit around 30% to 40% only. I have a Core i7 CPU. All cores are being utilised, but only marginally. I've set the thread priority as high as it will go and also have enabled the setting for "Enable Multithread Encoding". I was wondering if there was something I've missed? Ideally I'd like the CPU to used as much as possible to reduce encode times.

2. I want to add an AviSynth script to stabilize video footage. Majority of my video footage is handheld and is often prone to some 'shake'. I'm a complete noob when it comes to AviSynth. I've come across some plugins (DePan and MVtools), but I have no idea how to use them and if I try to add example scripts to the AviSynth section of AVStoDVD the text turns red.

Thanks in advance.

[_MrC_]

Hi Simmo1985 and welcome there,

1. As you have already noticed for sure, video (audio) encoding involves a chain of apps: decoding filters, AviSynth, FFmpeg/HCenc/Aften. To fully make use of a multicore CPU, every ring of the chain must be able to run multithread. Actually only the latest ring of the chain (FFmpeg or HCenc or Aften) can effectively run in multithread mode. Unfortunately the good old AviSynth 2.5.8 is a single thread app. That's the bottleneck. There are sobstitution of AviSynth, like AviSynthMT, that can operate in multithread mode, but I have not deeply tested them, so I cannot say if the stability is enough to be used with AVStoDVD.

2. Good idea and best way to become an advanced user. Red means that the script has been altered from the original, not that the script is not working. Just use the Preview Title button to test it. See Help/FAQ/GUI/Q2.2 and Q2.3 for troubleshooting if Preview Title section does not work properly.



Bye

[Simmo1985]

Thanks for your reply MrC.

Just thought I'd throw a possible feature request to you. All of my work requires me to remove the audio from the videos I process. If there was a way to remove all the audio tracks of every clip in the source titles list, that would make life a lot easier for me. Whether it be a keyboard shortcut to remove the audio from one track at a time, or the ability to remove all audio tracks etc. Thanks again.

[Simmo1985]

Just one more thing... I have some file that are around 4 seconds in length. The encoder does not seem to like these files and doesn't encode any video, just a single frame. Is there a way that I can get around this?

[Simmo1985]

Have just come across another issue. I'm trying to bring the outputted MPEG2 files into PowerDirector 12 to edit / burn the DVD. PowerDirector accepts the files, but playback on the burnt DVD (and whilst playing the files inside PowerDirector prior to burning) shows motion to be very jerky. The video files playback fine via VLC Player / MPC etc. Any reason why the MPEG2 files created with AVStoDVD may be not compatible with a program such as PowerDirector? I have never had an issue with MPEG2 files from other programs. Thanks again.

[_MrC_]

Hi Simmo1985,

could you please upload the 4 sec clip, for testing purpose?

About PowerDirector, I cannot be of great help, because I do not know the program. I would suggest you to author the AVStoDVD mpeg2 output with MuxMan (it comes with AVStoDVD): if MuxMan accepts the mpeg2, that's a very good hint that the mpeg2 is OK and the issue is to be addressed to PowerDirector editing and/or output. Otherwise we can further investigate the mpeg2 output from AVStoDVD.



Bye

[Arbok]

Hi!
I have noticed that when a DVD is created using Avs2DVD, the subs inserted into the DVD are shown in different font sizes depending on whether they are displayed in one line (bigger font size) or two lines (smaller font size). Can that be turned off so that the subs are displayed in the same size? Tnx.

[_MrC_]

Hi Arbok,

currently not because SubtitleCreator does not allow many customization when launched using command line interface. You have an alternative: demux the subtitles (SRT, ASS, SSA, etc.) and then edit and convert them to SUP using the SubtitleCreator GUI: you will have much more control on output format. SubtitleCreator is part of AVStoDVD package.



Bye

[Arbok]

Tnx for the reply, _MrC_.
Bye.

[steptoe]

Another suggestion :

Is there any easy way (for you) to create an editor for the avisynth filters that are currently included with AvstoDVD so that we can add our own common ones

The filter editor works perfectly, but if I'm adding extra filters I currently have to enter the script commands manually for every project

There is a simple script that uses RemoveGrain and reasonably fast, that manages to do an impressive job of removing the majority of scratches and spots/dirt without destroying too much of the source, and also another related one I use (LRemoveDust)that is very fast but also great at removing grain from very old 70's/80's DVD transfers. Both used together can make a world of difference to older DVD conversion, especially ancient B&W transfers

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1339881#post1339881

If its possible in a future version to add this to scripts, similiar to how AVStoDVD does it now by clicking the filter button and choosing your parameters it means I can insert them into project a lot faster than at presemt



Thanks for your continuing hard work and supporting the requests we come up with, no matter how trivial they may seem to others

[_MrC_]

Hi steptoe

first of all thanks for the kind words and for the suggestions.

About the external filters feature, could you please elaborate better the request? An "universal" sequence of input boxes is not feasible, because each filter has its own inputs, with their own formatting and legal values and ranges...

Another option would be to have the user to insert *all* the filter flags string, i.e. between the 2 brackets, but that would mean the user is fully aware what the filter is doing.

Further big problem: filter positioning. Some filters should be called before resizing, others after, other filters require a progressive (not interlaced) footage... tough



Bye

[steptoe]

I forgot about the positioning of filters and making sure that it goes after or before certain filters, and then some filters over-riding the work that others are doing, so basically repeating the same steps twice but with different filters, with a worse end result

AviSynth is very very powerful but can also make the end result much worse if used incorrectly


Thanks for helping to remind me how 'simple' AviSynth is to set-up correctly

[steptoe]

Just a quick suggestion, for a descratch/denoise filter, inclusion in some future versions of AVStoDVD. Its very very simple, but very good at removing the vast majority of scratches and dust/dirt/spots with effecting the source too much

Great for really old movies, or B&W films. The default are usually enough to cope with the majority of issues. But is basically called as RemoveDirtMC(75,false) or RemoveDirtMC_NEW(75,false)

Where the 1st parameter is the strength and the 2nd TRUE or FALSE for greyscale. I just leave it at FALSE and it will happily process B&W regardless

This link shows both, RemoveDirtMC uses RemoveGrain and MVTools, where the 2nd one uses RemoveGrain and MVTools2. The handly thing is that both will happily live in the same script and .dll in the same folder

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1639554#post1639554

With this link as mentioned in an earlier post showing basically what it achieves and removes

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1339881#post1339881

I am also using a couple more functions, but it then starts getting complicated with various scripts and functions. But for very old movies with lots of grain and dirt does achieve the end result without killing much details like some of the more powerful filters tend to do, or end up using two or more filters to get the same result that I can do in two very fast simple functions

[_MrC_]

Thanks steptoe for the suggestion and links. I will surely have a look.



Bye

[avsnoob]

(I hope this is the right place for this question, apologies if not.)

I have a MKV in Chinese with a .srt with Dutch and English subtitles that I'm trying to burn to DVD, and if I watch the MKV in VLC I don't have any subtitles, unless I enable them manually, which is what I would expect. However, when I try to convert that MKV using AVStoDVD, I always end up with hard Dutch subtitles, no matter what settings I use. I have removed subs altogether in the project and also tried various combinations of subs with and without demuxing, but I always end up with Dutch hard subs in the final DVD product. I tried enabling hard subs in the title editor with a default of English, and ended up with English subs over top of the Dutch; similarly, if I don't turn on hard subs and enable English subs in my DVD player, I end up with English over top of the Dutch. How can I get no hard subs on the final DVD? Am I missing something here? One thing I did find is that mediainfo says the Dutch subs are default, and the English are not:

Text #1
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title : Nederlandse ondertiteling (Dutch retail subs)
Language : Dutch
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text #2
ID : 4
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title : English subs
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

[avsnoob]

Just to followup in case anyone runs into this in the future, I was able to fix this based on some information I found in another thread. Using mkvmerge from the AVStoDVD program directory, I set the Dutch subtitles to default to no, and now they don't show up. This is the command:

C:\Program Files\AVStoDVD\MKVtoolNix>.\mkvmerge.exe -o "\path\to\output.mkv" --default-track 2:0 "\path\to\input.mkv"

The only gotcha was that mkvmerge starts track numbering from 0, where mkvinfo starts from 1. This meant I had to use a track number one less than what mkvinfo was reporting for the offending subtitles.

[sidsanders]

had to throw in some thanks. used this to convert some old vids for my kids and havent had any probs (2.7.3 no install ver).
nice work.

[cholla]

This has been covered in another thread to a degree but it's been a while.
I would like to be able to select any title in the menu & have the rest of the title play without a return to the menu.
Unless I selected menu with my remote control .
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/343504-Easy-way-to-set-DVD-to-play-next-file-instea...=1#post2140663

I know this feature hasn't been added . I was able to sort of fix the menu with PGCEdit .
A check box or pull down in AVStoDVD would be a lot easier.
Like DVDFlick After a title has finished Play the next title .

AVStoDVD is a much better program that DVDFlick in most ways .
Would it be that difficult to have the menus work this way?

Thanks for a great program ; whether you can do this or not.

[_MrC_]

Hi cholla,

Unfortunately it is not possible: BatchMux (the MuxMan wrapper used to perform DVD authoring) does not support that feature.

BTW thanks for the kind words and keep using AVStoDVD and suggesting improvements.



Bye

[_MrC_]

Release 2.7.4 Final is available to download.

Change log (only bugfixes and cosmetics vs previous alpha):

- Some bugs fixed
- Added possibility to resize and maximize main AVStoDVD window
- Added NTSC SlowDown routine for progressive PAL to NTSC conversions ('Preferences'/'AviSynth')
- Added support to LAV Filters (detection and preferred codecs selection)
- Added support to MPEG-4 Part 14 (mp4 and m4a) audio files as input
- Added AVSMeter 1.7.7 to NoInstall and Installer packages
- Added new routine ('ReadAVSInfoF') to read AviSynth scripts and DGIndex projects
- Replaced FFmpeg with AVSMeter to run 'ReadAVSInfo' routine (A2DInfo.avsi)
- Moved FFmpeg HQ option from 'Edit Title' to 'Preferences'
- Added possibility to customize the FFmpeg HQ command line flags
- Improved handling of DGIndex projects sources
- Improved 'Preview Title Output' avs script for better compatibility with Raw Video directshow codecs
- DGIndex updated to release 1.5.8
- MediaInfo updated to release 0.7.67



Bye

[Yanta]

Given this...

- Added support to LAV Filters (detection and preferred codecs selection)
- Added AVSMeter 1.7.7 to NoInstall and Installer packages
- Replaced FFmpeg with AVSMeter to run 'ReadAVSInfo' routine (A2DInfo.avsi)
- DGIndex updated to release 1.5.8
- MediaInfo updated to release 0.7.67

Is it best to completely uninstall and reinstall AVSTODVD when upgrading to this release?

[_MrC_]

Is it best to completely uninstall and reinstall AVSTODVD when upgrading to this release?

Yes, that's the best option, as explained in Help/FAQ/General/Q1.7



Bye

[Yanta]

Is it best to completely uninstall and reinstall AVSTODVD when upgrading to this release?

Yes, that's the best option, as explained in Help/FAQ/General/Q1.7



Bye

<blush> Sorry. Should have read.

[mike252]

Been using AVStoDVD for quite a while now, but ran into some problem recently. Unable to encode the usual way and have to resort to using ffmpeg safe mode. Here is my imput stats

Info: AVC - 0 kbps - 720x300 - DAR 2.4 - 23.976 fps (CFR) - Progressive - 1:41:11 hours - 145565 frames
Audio 1:.mkv
Info: AAC LC - 0 kbps - CBR - 2 ch - 48000 Hz - 1:41:11 hours (9 ms delay) - EN
[MediaInfoLib - v0.7.67]
Showing 0 kbps in both yet video file plays fine using mpc hc , any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[_MrC_]

Hi mike252

it sounds like a codecs issue. Load your mkv file, select 'Codecs'/'Build DirectShow Filters Graph' and post here the resulting graph as an image.



Bye

[mike252]

Excuse my ignorance not sure how to post image of graph.